Early season snow prompts booking spike

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Widespread snow across the Alps has prompted a spike in early-season booking enquiries, according to travel agent Iglu Ski.

Resorts in France, Austria and Switzerland have opened early with some reporting nearly a metre of snow. Courchevel, France, is offering a free day on the slopes on Saturday thanks to early dumps. In North America Aspen and Park City have both opened early, and Whistler opened 13 days early on Saturday.

And with snow has come holidaymaker optimism with Iglu Ski experiencing a 15 per cent increase in pre-Christmas enquiries for European resorts compared to November last year.

There are often cut-price deals available in early season because of unreliable piste conditions. Iglu Ski, for example, is offering a self-catered week in Courchevel in mid-December for just over £300 including flights and transfers.

“When the snow started to fall at the end of last week we definitely saw a spike in enquiries for December bookings,” said James Box, head ofIglu Ski's ski products. “Last season was incredible for snow but the first solid snowfall didn't come until quite late, whereas now we're seeing a boost in enquiries early.”

According to Fraser Wilkin, of snow forecasting site weathertoski.co.uk, the resorts benefiting most from the early snow are those with a lot of terrain above 2,000m. A spokesman for Val Thorens, France, the highest resort in Europe at 2,300m, said there was currently 60cm of snow at 2,300m and 90 at 3,200m.

Iglu Ski's sales director Adam Johnson said: “I've never seen so many resorts open so early. And some that aren't open, like Val d'Isère, could open if they wanted. It's no exaggeration to say they've been blasted with snow and, more importantly, cold.

“Of course, we could still be hit by a warm spell but as things stand conditions could not be better.